Chris “Macca” McCormack and Andreas Raelert Video Interview

Andy Raelert

MACCA:

Hi, it’s a pleasure to have you here at Thanyapura. I have raced you for many, many years, and you know, when you contacted us and said you were going to come out here, it was a buzz for me, and it was a buzz for a lot of the athletes on the island, and thanks for sitting down with us. Now, I just wanted to know, tell everyone what you think of it? Does anything surprise you? Have you enjoyed Thailand? Have you ever trained here before?

ANDY:

Oh, first of all, thanks for the invitation. Yeah, it’s my first trip to Thailand, my first trip here to Phuket, and my first time here in Thanyapura, and I really love it.

MACCA:

Oh, good.

ANDY:

It’s my first experience, and the people are very friendly. The facilities here are great, and, yeah, I really enjoyed my time.

MACCA:

Oh, good, you’ve been going out with one of our locals here—Freddy Croneborg doing a lot of work. I had all good intentions of joining you, but I haven’t been doing much in the last few months, but you know, the riding—you found the riding challenging enough. I know it’s relatively flat, but have you found the riding challenging? I know you’re getting a lot of the long rides in.

ANDY:

Oh, definitely. I mean, you’ve got plenty of options for longer rides, short rides. We’ve got some steep hills—some longer climbs, but what I found out—what impressed me most was the traffic is quite tricky sometime, but the Thai people are very polite and no aggression at all compared to Europe.

MACCA:

And Australia. (laughs)

ANDY:

So just flow with the traffic, and if you have some open roads, then there’s no traffic at all, which is really amazing, and the roads are very good. So the pavement is really nice, and yeah, I really enjoyed it.

MACCA:

Ah, sweet, sweet. So I am going to ask ‘coz these are things I want to know. One thing to be in Thailand training at Thanyapura, but you know, is this the end of the season for you? Are you starting your season? I know you’re going home to Europe to go to a ski trip. I just saw your brother dominate Challenge Bahrain, so are you kicking off your season now? Like, is this a build into 2015 and what are your plans? Will there be another Kona on the cards? Are we going to chase 70.3’s? It’s good to see Michael so fit. When you two boys are fit, in my opinion, it’s great for the sport because you two boys are poetry in motion. So what does next year look like?

ANDY:

Oh, thanks, oh, yeah, for me it’s just the beginning. So when I came here it was just a kick off for the season to get the first mileage into my body and push off for the next three years.

Kona is still the big dream I am chasing, and yeah, looking at Mike’s performance in the past, yeah, I was really happy, and I am really happy because I know what he went through when he was injured, and it takes a lot of time.

It looks easy from the outside when he’s winning or when people are winning, but it was a lot of work he has done in the past, and I am really happy for him that he is right there where he just—when he stopped because of his injury. So we are really looking forward to 2015.

MACCA:

And is Mikey looking at long-course Ironman racing, or he is going to stay at the 70.3 distance? You know, I know he’s your primary training partner, and you know, I know how good he is at that 70.3. Is he going to stay where he’s at? We saw him at Frankfurt and a few races at the ironman distance, but where is his head at? How are your heads at?

ANDY:

Oh, nice, Mike he had plenty of options, but he loves racing half distance—70.3. So his big goal is to maybe to add another world champion title in 70.3, but and going for the challenge races, of course, that’s his big goal for this year and for the next year’s too, and there is still this scenario that we want to race both in Kona.

If it’s going to happen next year, or in the next years, we will see. So it’s his call. So first of all, he has to stay fit, and if this is going to happen then we will see.

MACCA:

Now getting onto Kona. How have you thought that the qualification process for Kona now—is that as you’ve aged—has that been a difficult thing for you? I know it was this year—or this year qualification was relatively difficult, or was it last year?

ANDY:

No, it was this year.

MACCA:

It was this year. And have you found that being a major hindrance? It seems nowadays you watch, you know, Kona, and if you bag a bad one in Kona, it makes the entire process for the following year very, very difficult. So, you know, as an older athlete having seen both processes, do you think it’s a plus or a minus, or what’s your feelings on that? Without being too, you know, you don’t have to be—

ANDY:

No, just to be honest—

MACCA:

Just honest.

ANDY:

If you want to win this race—so the qualifications shouldn’t be a problem. And if you struggle at the qualification side, then you don’t get the potential in maybe winning this race in the future. Of course, it’s a problem if you can’t make enough points—the Kona the year before.

MACCA:

Yes.

ANDY:

You’re missing out, but the first—or the top 15 guys—let’s say the top 20 guys in the world are from Kona last year. They make enough points or they are making a lot of points, so they got a little bit of an advantage, but I wouldn’t say an advantage.

MACCA:

Yes, yes.

ANDY:

So there are still 30 spots left, so everybody has to compete.

MACCA:

Yeah, yeah.

ANDY:

And if you can’t make it under the top 30, then, like I said, then you don’t have maybe enough really the potential to win the race.

MACCA:

Yes.

ANDY:

So if I struggle about the qualifications, then I definitely don’t have the potential.

MACCA:

And how do you feel with that? Are you looking at, you know, if you’re looking at a qualification, do you think it’s a two-year process now? You know, in years past, it used to be you win the major race you’re in.

And then they brought in these points, and you know, I talk to a lot of the young guys now about setting a Kona target if you’re looking at success in Kona to be fresh enough to be competitive because we all want to win it. You need to—you need to look at a two-year commitment, and what’s your thoughts on that?

ANDY:

Um—

MACCA:

You know, if—

ANDY:

No, just—

MACCA:

You know, you got guys like Kienle. You’ve got guys like, you know, if you’re looking—Frodeno’s entry last year. He came out very, very quickly—early season—capped if off with a good performance in Frankfurt.

Kienle has the advantage of automatic qualification now. You have Ron Lee with automatic qualification, and then Crowie has still got one, but I think Crowie’s retired—maybe.

ANDY:

I don’t think so. (laughs)

MACCA:

Yeah. (laughs) Don’t believe what you hear. But you know, from an outsider’s perspective, I saw you in Kona this year. You moved out of transition so fast, I think it’s been the most exciting—still to this day the two most exciting races that I have seen come across to Kona, and you’re more exciting than Frodo was this year.

I think he was more conservative. With yourself and Kienle—just in the fact that you lay it on the line, and my thoughts this year coming off—I think you’ve qualified—was it Canada your last—you did to qualify?

ANDY:

Yes.

MACCA:

So you had six weeks prior. And I still saw you roar out of transition, and my opinion was you were just—you were season-fatigued, you know? Really—because you didn’t have that—well, of course, people are going to say, oh, you know, he’s a lot older, and you know, he’s coming off injuries, but I beg to differ, and I still think you can win, but my concern—

ANDY:

Oh, thank you.

MACCA:

My concerns were—my concerns were that this forcing athletes of your caliber to qualify in such a difficult—under such difficult circumstances—makes it hard for everyone to be at their best now.

ANDY:

Oh, I totally agree, but we are talking about the world championship race, and we can complain about how the qualification matters should be, or can be.

MACCA:

It is what it is.

ANDY:

It is what it is, but at the end of the day, you need kind of a qualification because you want to have the best athletes on the start line in Kona.

MACCA:

Well, I keep saying why wouldn’t you—why wouldn’t you allow half the points to carry on like tennis? You know how every year it resets?

ANDY:

Oh, we can definitely talk about this. You know there are plenty of options just to make it better, but like I said, if you want to win this race, you have to go through the like everybody else through a qualification, and if I can’t make it, I am just at the end of the day not good enough, and—

MACCA:

Geez you’re hard on yourself, mate. Geez you’re hard on yourself. So what is your strategy, then, to be in Kona fresh and ready to win? You know? If you had a perfect run, not a perfect run, what is your strategy. Do you qualify early? Do you spread your season out? Do you—are you happy to do an Ironman six weeks prior to Kona? What is your strategy to qualify?

ANDY:

Oh, I am still thinking about my strategy for the next year, but yeah, the best ways to have early race on to get enough points, and to get focused for my victory.

MACCA:

Yes.

ANDY:

And let’s say in the next week or two—some really high point races—April, May—so I would maybe think about to pick one of these races just to get in really good shape for this race and enough time to recover and to get fresh and to start running Kona.

MACCA:

Okay.

ANDY:

And yeah, like I said, if I am not making it, I am not good enough.

MACCA:

You’ll make it. None of that. I want to send my personal—I personally want to see Andy Raelert—I had the luxury of watching you—I raced you the year prior—and then I watched you have a war with Pete Jacobs, 2011. I was with your brother on the bike, and in my opinion, Crowie had the most amazing day.

So I don’t look—but to see that race and to see, you know, you’d had such an amazing season, and I was like this guy’s got 2012 down. Then you had a few injury issues, and it seems to have been… Since then, it’s been a difficult because you haven’t had those Kona points to put you in a position where every single year you podium in Kona. So you have one injury year—so from there it’s been a frustrating thing to watch because I think it’s a—I guess I can’t say it’s not fair it is—but they are the rules, but I just would personally love to see you nail the points early and arrive in Kona in those same sort of conditions that you’ve had off that last race, and it was usually a Frankfurt or a Roth, and then that focus on Kona because you racing well in Kona is awesome, and it’s difficult now with so many good Germans.

ANDY:

Oh, it’s absolutely great. If you see the quality right now, especially coming from Germany, it’s just very competitive, but—

MACCA:

It’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable.

ANDY:

Yeah, it’s all about triathlon. You just can see that the triathlon is getting so popular coming from the Olympics—this long distance stuff. So it’s the modern adventure, and I think we’ve got so much more potential worldwide in triathlon.

MACCA:

I’ll do one last question. Then we’ll go to questions. How do you beat Sebastian Kienle in Kona? How do you beat him? Like, we know what he’s—what does the—because his performance this year was incredible to watch.

ANDY:

Absolutely.

MACCA:

He’s laying out some huge watts. He’s such an inspiring, aggressive racer. He leaves nothing to chance. He’s so much like you, but with a different set of strengths. How do you beat him? What do you think? Is it a—do you need to be more—feel you need to be more aggressive on the bike? Do we need to swim quicker? Does the run need to drop below 2:40, or what is it?

ANDY:

I think it’s all about risk management. So everybody has a mistake in the race, and you have to minimize all the risks, but you have to risk also a little bit thing, or a little bit, so which means it’s just an ordinary race, you will never make it to the top. So to beat the best person in the world and the best who just showed that in a perfect way and was very classy, very stylish winning. And so he’s got his strengths. So you have to believe in your strengths, and you don’t have to look at the tactics the whole time. You’ve just got this one day. You have to go all out—not really right from the beginning, but you have to give it a try.

MACCA:

Take your chance.

ANDY:

Take your chance, you know, be confident about what you can do, and if you fail, you know, it happens, but you have to risk something, and that’s all you need, and you need this to be hard.

MACCA:

Beautiful. You’re the fastest guy in the world, mate.

ANDY:

(laughs)

MACCA:

You’re still the fastest rider for the distance. It’s a pleasure to sit with you, mate, thanks for coming to Thanyapura, and you’re always welcome here, and my hope for you is to have the best 2015—you and your brother. I’d love to see you achieve everything you [0:13:19.7 inaudible].

ANDY:

Oh, thanks.

MACCA:

Have a good one.

ANDY:

I appreciate it.

MACCA:

Too easy.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Please sit back and listen in on the questions too. You might want to dive in there.

MACCA:

Oh, okay. Are they questions for–?

AARON FRANKLIN:

They are just for Andy.

MACCA:

Oh, okay.

AARON FRANKLIN:

But you might find them interesting.

MACCA:

And they are off our Facebook wall?

AARON FRANKLIN:

These are off, yeah, off the MaccaX Facebook wall.

MACCA:

Oh, okay.

AARON FRANKLIN:

We’ve put our questions out there and let anyone throw out what they would like to hear. Actually, I’ve got one right off the bat. It just came to when you’re doing this with your heart.

So Chris is kind of famous for his saying, “Embrace the suck.” Right? You would have heard—you’ve probably seen the t-shirts all over the place, and he’s also famous for his mental folders that he’s talked about that he likes to dive into when he knows that suck is coming. What do you use? You know those tough times that come.

I mean, what do you think about? What goes through your head when you’re hitting those really bad patches?

ANDY:

Oh, you have to be prepared, and you always have to think it’s just a temporary moment. It will never stay forever, so even if you, you know, you hit the wall, there are moments in the race you feel better. So just, you know, just don’t see the overall goal. You know, just pick some steps—step-by-step. And never forget you’re not the only one in the race who is hurting.

AARON FRANKLIN:

There’s nothing in particular you have to think about?

ANDY:

Oh, I mean, you have to be prepared for these moments. So it starts with training.

AARON FRANKLIN:

You know they are coming.

ANDY:

Oh, absolutely, yeah, it’s not a surprise—definitely. So I went a lot of—

MACCA:

The fitter you are, the more you have of them, I think—the quicker you’re going. So the fitter you are, the more chances you’re taking, the faster you’re going, so the more hard times I think you have without a question.

ANDY:

Oh, absolutely.

AARON FRANKLIN:

That leads into another question here. This is from Dan Palmer. So he asks, “When you broke the world record in Roth, was there any ever doubt in your head that you’re going too fast and that you may be overcooking yourself and that, holy crap, I need to slow down. I am going to blow up. I am going so damn quick?”

ANDY:

Oh, absolutely, yes. Definitely, but I mean it was a perfect day for me—almost a perfect day, and Sebastian was chasing me all day long, so I just had this only option just to—

AARON FRANKLIN:

Go for it.

ANDY:

To go for it and—

AARON FRANKLIN:

See what happens, huh?

ANDY:

Oh, absolutely. You never really know, but you got a little bit of feeling, you know, how your body works, and the mental part is the most important thing, so 80% is just power of will, and of course, after, let’s say, four hours into the race, it starts to hurt, and your body tells you maybe you are a little too fast. Come on. Hold something back, but just keep on going.

MACCA:

That was ludicrous mate because if you remember that week in the history of our sport—the week prior Marino had gone 7:45, and then Switzerland Ironman was on, and I was sitting there watching Ronnie Schildknecht in Swiss, and I am following Roth on [the phone], and I am getting these splits going—this is not possible, mate. This is not possible.

I know this course, you know, and when I saw the time, I am like my God, that was in my opinion… Your Frankfurt race that I was a part of, you know, I saw that race with my own eyes. 2010 was the greatest Ironman I had ever been in, you know? Being a part of is just ludicrous, but to do what you did in Roth was just another level.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So being the absolute geek that you are. What’s the exact time?

MACCA:

7:41.

ANDY:

33.

MACCA:

I was going to say 31.

ANDY:

Oh, yeah.

MACCA:

Yeah, yeah.

ANDY:

It was like a flow. It was a perfect day—perfect conditions and like—

MACCA:

Because I said 7:30 when I got the last split it was like he’s at 7:30, and he’s 3k from the finish—I am like no—no—7:30? You know, I am like—he can’t—you, you were already back onto the road that we came off the canal at Roth where everyone knows you’ve got a slight downhill and then uphill and you come into the… Like, my God—

ANDY:

To be honest, it wasn’t really a surprise. When you tour—I mean, the professional athletes—they talk to each other about what is possible, and even then, times came up by 7:30, which is not impossible, so—

AARON FRANKLIN:

You think we’ll see a 7:30 in the next few years?

ANDY:

Oh, definitely—100%.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Really?

MACCA:

That’s awesome. I can’t wait.

AARON FRANKLIN:

(laughs)

MACCA:

I want to ask the guy what did that feel like?

AARON FRANKLIN:

(laughs)

ANDY:

I mean, I didn’t say that I would do that, but in general—definitely.

MACCA:

No, no, no everyone is always pushing the envelope.

ANDY:

Yeah.

MACCA:

Always pushing.

ANDY:

We got so much quality. So—

MACCA:

With the guys coming.

AARON FRANKLIN:

With the guys coming.

MACCA:

Frommhold, I think still watching Nils Frommhold this year in Roth—just a young guy be so aggressive. I think that you guys—the Germans have just changed the game with the aggressive racing. They’ve always been aggressive racers—Jurgen [Zack], and Thomas [Hellriegel], and Norman [Stadler]. But I think you in particular, post-Norman, are aggressive in everything.

You never left anything to chance, and that just inspired a whole new way. Kienle always had it—just if I die, I die. You know, that sort of mentality where in the past everyone in Ironman was so conserve, survive, finish. Even for the first generation that just went—

ANDY:

Oh, I wouldn’t say this. Come on.

MACCA:

Yeah, I used to say it, but you’re always racing a group of guys that had a different mindset, and then honestly from my perspective, you are the first athlete I saw and probably Crowie to some degree—he changed the game that threw caution to the wind where you—Stadler did, but they still ran a very conservative attack strategy, you know? You were just on the bike. You’re the best runner, and you’re attacking the bike, you know? Like you’re leading the swim. You don’t have to.

You know, like you’re—everything was—there was never a conservative bone in you, and that was, it changed race, and now you’re seeing it. When I saw Nils this year in Roth, I just thought what courage for a young kid, and well, my opinion was the Germans have changed that within the entire sport in just the way you attack things.

ANDY:

Sometimes it doesn’t pay off.

MACCA:

But it’s inspiring. It doesn’t have to pay off. This is what inspires people, you know? Like conservative is boring.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So speaking about world records—you hold the world record for the full distance. Your brother holds the world record for the half distance. How does this happen? I mean, what do you think the key to success is with having two brothers break both those world records? I mean, can you fill us in with any—I mean, any… The odds are, it’s just ludicrous, right?

ANDY:

For me it was always great that you have Mikey also as a training partner, so if you have a world-class training group, just brings you into the top level, and if you have this competition every single day, every single workout, it just makes you stronger. And by the way, Mikey got way more talent. So I am quite happy that I can keep up with him in training, so that’s the secret. So—

MACCA:

The brothers. The Brownlees are the same. I need to get myself another brother. (laughs)

ANDY:

I mean, we are individuals in the sport, but you still need a classy group just to train with and to be competitive and to have some social skills.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Joanne Baxas on or team. Have you ever heard of Joanne Baxas the Stalker?

MACCA:

You’ll meet her. She’ll be in love with you.

AARON FRANKLIN:

You’ll meet her, yeah.

MACCA:

She’s a famous Australian woman on the MaccaX team—one of the—and she’s famous for stalking and getting a photo with every single professional athlete. And last year I think she got everyone but you.

AARON FRANKLIN:

(laughs)

MACCA:

She’ll get you. She has a photo with everyone.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Yeah, so she asked what’s Michael going to buy you with his winnings?

MACCA:

For Christmas. $100,000.

AARON FRANKLIN:

He’s got all this money, he’s gotta give you a bloody good gift, right?

ANDY:

No.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Just messing around with you.

MACCA:

You can buy me something if you like.

ANDY:

Ask him.

MACCA:

Yeah, yeah, Mikey, buy me something.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Question here—actually I am not sure because this one is from Mike Moore. He wants to know what are the strange, bouncing uphill run sessions that you do? I don’t know what he’s talking about. Maybe you put a video out or talked about something or did something—bouncing uphill with your legs.

ANDY:

Yeah, it’s just to do some efforts uphill.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Yeah.

ANDY:

And it’s just to build up your strength.

MACCA:

Is that a plyometric sort of session? Or is it just uphill bounding?

ANDY:

Uphill bounding. It’s just—

AARON FRANKLIN:

Could you walk us through it a little bit? How would someone do it?

ANDY:

I mean, there are so many ways to make it to the top, and you don’t need only just to get on the track or to do some normal workouts like everybody else does. You know, just find different ways to play with the, how you call it? With the environment—find something, and if you get exhausted, that’s a really good sign, and it works. So—

AARON FRANKLIN:

High knees—big bounds—uphill, yeah.

ANDY:

Oh, yeah.

AARON FRANKLIN:

And then walk back down and hit another. Kind of like hill repeats or high-leg pickups.

ANDY:

Pretty much, yeah.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Okay.

MACCA:

Last one? Or do a couple more?

AARON FRANKLIN:

A couple more.

MACCA:

Okay.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So the big questions on everyone’s mind—got the same question multiple times. I will throw it out there from Brett Murray. What was going through your mind? You’re looking at me. You know what the question is. I know you know the—

ANDY:

Not really.

AARON FRANKLIN:

When you finally caught Macca, how did that make you feel—in Kona in 2010—when you finally got up to him. You’d been working, working, working. He knew you were coming. He knew you were going to catch him. What was going through your head when you finally caught him?

ANDY:

I mean, it’s—

MACCA:

That’s really interesting. (laughs)

ANDY:

It’s been a while, but I mean, first of all, of course I was still quite happy that I was still in, you know, in the position to win the race, and I felt really confident when I caught Macca at the time, and I knew it would be a really tough finish, but I was talking to myself and saying, oh, I am still doing okay, and I still have got everything I needed just to make it to the finish, and I was still believing myself—it’s the day I was dreaming about. I mean, it’s–

MACCA:

It’s normal.

ANDY:

It’s normal, yeah, so—

MACCA:

Life turns on a dime in an ironman, you know?

AARON FRANKLIN:

It felt good, yeah?

ANDY:

Oh, definitely and you have to think like this so that you’re always in the position that you are under control, or that you control everything, and just make sure that you are the strongest in the field.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So do you remember much of the next couple of miles how that played out?

ANDY:

Of course, yes. I still remember.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Oh, good, we were talking before. You told me you don’t remember much that—

ANDY:

I mean, if it comes back, of course—

AARON FRANKLIN:

That was a big day.

ANDY:

Definitely so.

AARON FRANKLIN:

I think everyone in Ironman remembers that day.

ANDY:

Yeah, I was, I mean—

MACCA:

Keep telling him. (laughs)

ANDY:

No, it was just.

MACCA:

It was the greatest race in history! Who were you…. (laughs)

ANDY:

And I was part of it—

AARON FRANKLIN:

Yeah, you were. Wouldn’t be great without…

ANDY:

I mean, at the end of the day, I was very happy finishing second place in that spot.

MACCA:

It was your only second time in Kona too. I think people don’t realize that. You were third, second, and in my eyes, you were the heir apparent.

AARON FRANKLIN:

How did the handoff go? I forget. Like, who shook whose hand, and who shared the sponge? Do you remember how that sort of went down?

MACCA:

I think with us we knew each other. I think the first time I ever saw Andy I remember vividly I had heard about you on the World Cup circuit because the Germans back then were [Vukow?] and that, and then I remember running with you in a group with you and Mikey Petzold in Lausanne World Cup, 2001.

ANDY:

You remember that too?

MACCA:

Yeah, yeah. So I knew this young hot shot—young kid that was coming with Mikey Petzold. I think Reto Hug won that race. I think you were fourth or fifth.

ANDY:

Okay.

MACCA:

Yeah, and so I knew who he was, and were you seventh at the Games?

ANDY:

Sixth.

MACCA:

Sixth at the Games, and so for me when these guys were coming—most of the Ironman guys in the U.S., you know, those are definitely distinctive markets.

The U.S. people were blind to the World Cup back then. They had no idea of the talent, and I used to always talk about these guys. I just had half my argument with Norman in that way was you did Ironman because you couldn’t cut it in the ITU, like, that was my opinion.

You know? Like, and so this was—that was definitely—but you’re now more molded—now there’s an expectation that ITU guys who will be successful in the Ironman, but back then that wasn’t the case. So when these guys were coming, I knew who he was, and I was like shit, and I just raced him in Frankfurt, like, on a course that was 7 kilometers long.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Who won that one?

MACCA:

I think the only time I saw you was at the start of the swim. It was ludicrous, and so I remember thinking, oh, my God, but it’s hard to—you remembered certain things in any race as in any race you’re saying, but the handshake, sponge, it was just—it wasn’t thought of. You just do it out of respect.

ANDY:

Absolutely.

MACCA:

It’s respect. It’s not—it’s like at that point in the race, you’re that destroyed. Hey, man, we’re both—good luck, you know?

ANDY:

Like, we never got separate more than two minutes.

MACCA:

Yeah, yeah. All day.

AARON FRANKLIN:

It was that close, yeah?

MACCA:

All day. Like all day—it never, you know, the anguish of that for both of you is—and it comes down do we get together with two miles to go, and I’m thinking this could go any way. He’s thinking this is my good luck, man. Whatever—just do the thing—good luck.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So Noelle wants to know if you could do it again, would you do it differently?

ANDY:

Not really.

AARON FRANKLIN:

No, okay.

ANDY:

I mean, it’s hard to tell, but at the end of the day, it was one of my best races I’ve ever done, and I became second, and I remember the finish. So it was all out. So there was nothing left. So I couldn’t go any faster. So—

MACCA:

And the winner always whenever you win something, you do it easier, don’t you think? Like it’s the adrenaline and everything. It looks easier. It’s—in ’06 I got second to Stadler.

I was like I could not—and everyone was like all right, if it was a bit longer, would you have won. If this was this—I am like, no mate. I had nothing left to give, and they are like, yeah, but Norman looks so relaxed, but it’s when you win, it’s a different-

ANDY:

Oh, yeah, it looks easy from the outside.

MACCA:

But you’re both cooked.

ANDY:

Right, and it’s all that finish line. So—

MACCA:

Yeah, yeah.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So that’s the questions from the audience, but if possible, I did speak to you earlier in the day. Is there one bike session that you can share with the team that’s sort of a go-to bike session you like to do? Can you can sort of walk us through what’s involved? I know Chris has many that we’ve sort of rolled out.

ANDY:

There is no particular bike session I prefer. I like social rides because especially if you go for a long ride and if you have some new people on board, it’s always fun just to have a chat and, you know…

MACCA:

Just get the miles done.

ANDY:

Absolutely, so to enjoy yourself riding the bike.

AARON FRANKLIN:

What about for building speed? Obviously social rides you don’t use it to build speed, no?

ANDY:

I mean, one of my best sessions, but I am doing these sessions when I am getting closer to a race is just 30-minute efforts.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Do you ever use a turbo-trainer? Indoor trainer?

ANDY:

No, most of the time I am doing outdoor sessions. To be honest, I hate it, getting on the indoor training if I have the chance just to go out.

MACCA:

Right, do you ride power, or no?

ANDY:

Yes, I am using a power meter just to see what I’m doing, and I’m using it especially if I do some efforts.

MACCA:

Okay.

ANDY:

And 30-minute efforts are quite good and just do the sets about three or four times with a little bit of warmup and a little bit of cool down.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So you do 30 hard, and then what sort of break between the next 30?

ANDY:

Let’s say a really tough workout is just do an hour warmup and 4×30 minutes, and after every 30 minutes just have 50-minutes rest, and another 50 minutes cool down and maybe a little bit of a brick session.

AARON FRANKLIN:

So a 50 rest here.

ANDY:

Yes, 50 minutes rest.

MACCA:

Your threshold power is Ironman pace? Is it half-Ironman pace? Or is it all out?

ANDY:

It’s above—it’s around the threshold for Ironman pace.

MACCA:

So everyone does similar sessions, huh?

ANDY:

Yeah.

MACCA:

And it’s very, very similar.

ANDY:

And there are no shortcuts. You have to do it.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Exactly. Do you do brick sessions at all?

ANDY:

Oh, yes.

AARON FRANKLIN:

You do?

ANDY:

One of the key sessions you have to do just to get ready for a race. So if you do such a session with let’s say a 20km brick for run—it’s a big day, so you’re almost running 180 plus a 20k run and race speed which, and then you know exactly about your shape—what you can do.

AARON FRANKLIN:

Do you guys—like, a couple of months out before a big race to sort of know—

ANDY:

Yeah, you have to build up into this one so you don’t start with 180k almost race pace plus a brick, so just—